


Counting Your Heartbeat Against My Hands

by EffervescentYellow



Category: Charité | Charité at War (TV)
Genre: Comfort, M/M, Romance, Tenderness, soft
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-25
Updated: 2020-01-25
Packaged: 2021-02-27 13:41:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 994
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22397998
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EffervescentYellow/pseuds/EffervescentYellow
Summary: A quiet moment after the war
Relationships: Otto Marquardt/Martin Schelling
Comments: 4
Kudos: 58





	Counting Your Heartbeat Against My Hands

They were never alone after the day the war ended. With Otto recovering and the world blown to pieces in more ways than one, there always seemed to be someone else there, or at least the threat of someone else arriving. Even before the end, however, they hadn’t been alone, just the two of them, in so long that Martin had almost forgotten what it was like all that time ago when they spent late, warm nights together under the orange glow of the lamp in his room. 

After a long night and morning in the ward, Martin finally finished for the day and headed back to one of the old apartments. It had been patched up well enough from all the damage that even though it was still drafty and lacking in much of the furniture, it was at least clean and for the time being, his own. Upon entering, however, he saw the other figure in the room; Otto was sitting hunched over on the edge of the bed, hands clasped in front of him.

He looked up as Martin walked in and gave a tired but gentle smile, “They fully released me this morning. You were working so… I thought I’d come here.”

Martin just stood with his back to the door, feeling relief and joy and need wash over him. After a second, he moved forward, still not saying anything and took Otto into his arms, pulling him tight against his chest and pressing his forehead into Otto’s shoulder, breathing in deeply.

Otto gripped onto his shirt tightly, hands shaking softly, from exhaustion or emotion or the slight chill in the room, “We made it, Martin,” he whispered into the other man’s hair.

Martin pulled back to look at him, fingers continuing to rub circles into his back, “I am amazed by it every day,” he replied softly, his voice seared with wonder.

Otto traced his fingers through Martin’s hair, feeling the slight curl of it under his fingertips and enjoying the way Martin leaned into his hand. He moved forward then and pressed a kiss to the corner of the other man’s mouth. When he looked at Martin again, his heart ached as he saw him still standing there with his eyes closed, almost reverent.

“It seems like a dream, to be here with you, alone,” he said as Otto traced the side of his cheek.

“Without planes and bombs, too…” Otto continued on, nodding in agreement.

They didn’t say much for a while then, just stood in the falling, yellow light from the window holding each other and sharing softhearted kisses in the quiet air. Otto was still recovering, however, and after a moment, Martin began to feel his weight rest more heavily against him.

“You should rest,” he urged him, pressing a hand against his chest to move him back towards the bed.

“I don’t want to miss any of our time together.”

“We have infinities of time, now, Maus,” Martin replied, making Otto smile brightly against him with the endearment, “And I remember what you said… the first time we watched the bombings from the attic.”

Otto blushed, fingers curling around the buttons of Martin’s shirt, but his voice was steady and sincere, “That I want to sleep without fear… and be woken by you…”

“Do you still want that?” Martin asked, voice tender.

“I want everything from you.”

Martin kissed him again, stronger now, and running his hands through Otto’s hair and down his neck, making him feel like he was melting with love. When they pulled apart, breath heavy in the calm air, and pressed their foreheads together, Otto reached for Martin’s hands and held them tightly against his chest.

“Come lie down with me?” He asked, already pulling Martin down next to him on the edge of the bed.

They both took of their shoes but didn’t bother getting undressed; they would have whole lifetimes ahead of them for other things, so now was to feel content and relaxed and cared for. Otto lay on his back, closing his eyes immediately, a soft smile playing on his lips as Martin lay against him, solid and warm. It didn’t take but moments before Otto drifted off into sleep, but Martin stayed awake, wanting to remember the serenity of the moment. He watched as the sunlight through the window arched lower and lower down the wall, landing on Otto’s hair and making it sparkle like old gold before moving further down to illuminate his slender hands and then down to his grey socks. When the sunlight finally reached the end of the bed, Martin felt Otto begin to stir beside him, rolling over onto his side in his half-asleep state, and curling further towards the whitewashed wall. 

Not being able to see his face, Martin couldn’t tell how awake he was, but he began to trace up and down his back slowly, fingers skating across each vertebrae through Otto’s thin, white shirt down to the base of his spine and then back up again, skating through the short hair at the base of his neck. His fingers moved languidly, not really trying to wake the other man nor ease him back to sleep but rather just feeling, proving to himself that he was alive. After a few minutes, Martin reached up and pressed a kiss to the base of Otto’s neck, making him sigh and reach out, trying to find some part of Martin to hold on to. Martin moved forward and wrapped his arms around Otto’s chest, Otto’s hands immediately curling around his own. Martin could feel his sated heartbeat and was himself lulled by the way Otto dragged his fingers across the soft skin of his wrists over and over again. 

“I love you,” Otto whispered finally into the air, “I don’t think I’ve ever told you that just this way.”

“And I you,” Martin whispered back, counting Otto’s heartbeat against his hands.


End file.
